Chapter 736 657: The Winner Stands, Are You Telling Me What to Do?

Spirit Medicine Tower.

"I am Lu Feng of the Alchemy Pavilion! Today, I have come to the Spirit Medicine Tower to challenge Pharmacist Yang Chan, the Pill Pavilion's new Genius Pharmacist, to a contest of Alchemy Ability!"

A middle-aged man in purple and gold robes stood before the Spirit Medicine Tower, shouting loudly. His gaze was fixed on Yang Chan, who had only recently arrived.

He had deliberately chosen this time, waiting until he saw Yang Chan at the Spirit Medicine Tower before coming to issue his challenge.

'He's here!'

Yang Chan wasn't surprised. Thanks to Liu Xuan's warning, he knew the Quasi-Saint Son would send someone to challenge his Alchemy Ability, hoping to shatter his confidence and impede his alchemical progress.

Not everyone in the Merak Sacred Land lived in perfect harmony. Conflicts naturally arose, and the best way to resolve them was to fight.

Thus, among Martial Arts Experts, the tradition of dueling existed. Whatever the conflict, they would simply fight it out. The winner was right, the loser was wrong. If you wanted to prove yourself right, you just had to keep defeating everyone else. Then, you were right.

After all, the winner remains standing while the loser falls—a crystal-clear outcome. The difference was obvious at a glance. Everything else was irrelevant; no one else even cared.

For Alchemists, conflicts and disputes were settled with a Pill Battle. Whoever possessed the greater Alchemy Ability was deemed correct.

It was a simple and brutish method, but it was also the most convenient—and it served to motivate people.

The victor earned glory, while the defeated was expected to turn shame into motivation, relentlessly improving their Alchemy Ability.

In essence, duels and Pill Battles existed to resolve conflict and motivate the people of the Holy Land. The original intention was certainly good.

However, sometimes, these established systems didn't always proceed as intended.

It wasn't unheard of for someone to strike too heavily during a duel, hindering the loser's Cultivation. Some even went out of their way to break a genius's spirit, dulling their edge and jeopardizing their future.

The same was true for Pill Battles. Normally, they not only revealed the skill gap between the two contestants but also benefited the spectators, since the battles were held in public.

Watching these experts perform alchemy naturally provided others with new Insights. For the observing Pharmacists, it was a fine opportunity to enhance their Pharmacist Abilities and broaden their Experience, contributing to the overall improvement of the Pharmacists in the Pill Pavilion.

It seemed like a good thing from every angle.

But Pill Battles could also cause ambitious Pharmacists to doubt their own abilities, especially after a defeat.

The former Genius Pharmacist, Yuwen Ze, was a prime example of this, and he wasn't the first.

Of course, participating in a Pill Battle had other benefits. The Pill Pavilion would reward the victor, usually with Spiritual Objects like Spirit Medicine. The rewards were especially high for first-time participants or those with exceptionally strong Alchemy Abilities.

Conversely, for those who participated too often and possessed only average Alchemy Ability, the rewards were mediocre even in victory.

This system had been gradually refined as the Merak Sacred Land developed, but certain unavoidable drawbacks remained.

'He's finally here. Let's see what this new Genius Pharmacist is made of!'

For once, Yuwen Ze wasn't focused on alchemy. Instead, he had appeared inside the Spirit Medicine Tower.

As he watched Lu Feng initiate the Pill Battle, a complex emotion flickered in his eyes.

Back then, the Merak Saintess had arranged for someone to challenge him to a Pill Battle and utterly crush him. The gap between them felt like an insurmountable abyss, which shattered his confidence completely. Since then, his Alchemy Ability had stagnated.

To this day, he still couldn't refine an Elixir to aid a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster's Cultivation.

This single step had become an unbreakable bottleneck, tormenting him for years.

Now, someone was using the very same tactic against one of the Merak Saintess's own people. Naturally, he had to watch closely.

He could never get revenge on the Merak Saintess or the Pill Master who had defeated him back then. But now was different. Now, he could watch from the sidelines.

For him, this might be a chance to break his own mental bottleneck. He wanted to see how someone in his exact position would fare in this predicament, hoping to find a solution to his own inner turmoil.

This was far more important than alchemy, so he had been waiting for this moment.

He had hoped for such a situation before, but unfortunately, no genius of his caliber had emerged in the Merak Sacred Land since his time. Not until Yang Chan appeared—the new 'Yuwen Ze' in everyone's eyes. This was a rare opportunity he could not afford to miss.

Who knew when an opportunity like this would come again.

'I wonder what arrangements the Saintess has made this time.'

From his position in the Spirit Medicine Tower, where he oversaw the Advanced Pharmacists, Qiu Feizhang was also watching the events unfold.

He had been observing Yang Chan since the very first day he arrived at the Spirit Medicine Tower.

His methods for handling affairs were impressive. As expected of someone who rose from humble beginnings, he was already quite mature—nothing like the greenhorn Yuwen Ze had been.

He had watched as Yang Chan systematically solved the problems in the Spirit Medicine Tower. Yang Chan gave the Quasi-Saint Son's faction no chance to stir up trouble, dismissing all the dissenters and replacing them with his own supporters. This efficiency had astounded both him and the Pavilion Master of the Pill Pavilion.

To eliminate all the troublemakers so efficiently, and all while operating within the rules, was truly astonishing.